Grace's Trip to Paris

Arc de Triomphe

Next Morning

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. It was really beautiful but the funny thing is the space was almost dedicated to a giant elephant. Napoleon commisioned it to be built yet he didn't get to see the final product before he died.

My first stop was the Eifel Tower. Our group woke up at 9:00 because we were all tired from the flight. We had a great breakfast at a nearby cafe. It was my first time having a real croissant from France

Lunch

We were in a rush to get to our last stop so we went to Starbucks and got fraps and chocolate croissants.

Musee d'Orsay

Our final stop of the day was the Musee d'Orsay. The museum used to be a railway station. It had been abandoned since 1961 but in 1978 French president Pompidou saved it from demolition and decided to use it as a museum for 19th and 20th century art. We had fun there looking at all the art together

Dinner

Eiffel Tower

We got back to the hotel and rested fot a little and went out to dinner at Les Deux Magots. The name orginally belonged to a nearby fabric and novelty shop. The resturaunt also appears in many books and novels such as he Chariot Makers and That Summer in Paris.

Sacre-Coeur

The next day we hit our first stop Sacre-Coeur. Montmatre, the hill on which it stands was orginally named Mons Matris meaning "Mount of Mars" later on it was christanized to Montmatre meaning "Mount of the Martyr." During the Paris Commune of 1871, hundreds of commune members hid in the chalk mines near the Sacre-Coeur. They were killed when the government dynamited the exits, adding to the hills body count.

Our first stop of the trip was the Eiffel Tower. We got there at 10:00am and stayed for an hour. Our favorite part was climbing up all the stairs. We also learned a lot. Did you know that it was originally made for the entrance of the 1889 World's Fair. Or that it was made with 10,000 tonnes of iron. We also learned that it was designed to be wind resistant and it only sways a few inches in the wind

Catacombs

Lunch

My Trip to Paris

Our final stop of the day was the Catacombs. The plague was going around the city of Paris and killing many of their citizens, making the cemeteries overflowing with bodies. When the area had lots of rain, bodies would make their way to basements. They needed an alternative to the problem so they decorated the walls of underground tunnels with bones. The tunnels were first used as quarries for limestone in the 13th century, eventually they were abandoned, later in the 18th century they were used for underground cemeteries. The tunnels cover over 4.2 miles but during a 45 minute tour you will only cover 1.2 miles

We stopped back at our hotel to drop off some of our souvenirs at the hotel. We walked a couple blocks down to a very nice cafe called the Cafe de flore which is one of the oldest and most prestigous coffeehouses in Paris. It even is a popular hangout spot for celeberties. We all got club sandwiches and they were very good!

Dinner

The Lourve

That night we went back to the Cafe de flore because we liked it so much the first time. This time we orderd their special quiche lorraine. It was the best meal I've had since I've gotten here!

Hotel

Ile de la Cite

After lunch we went to our last stop, The Lourve. Which is a very famous museum. Our guide, Margaux told us that it was first used as a fotress in the 12th centurty. She also said that the Mona Lisa wasn't always on dislplay there until 1789. We saw some really cool paintings too.

Back to the hotel

We spent most of the day at Ile de la Cite. We learned many things such as the Notre Dame Cathedral is there, we saw that two days ago. We also learned it is one of the oldest establishments in Paris. We ate lots of small foods throughout the day. Such as cheese and chocolate. It was very yummy! We even had dinner there. We ate dinner at a restaurant called au bougnat.

Checking into my hotel, the Mayfair for 313 dollars a night. It is very expensive but I wanted to make sure I enjoyed my stay there so I booked a nice hotel. My friends were nearby too. Tommy's room was across from me, Erick next to me, and Nate across from Erick. Also the hotel across the street had a lot of my other friends.

We were all tired from all the traveling so we decided to have 2 hrs of rest and meet back in the lobby at six for dinner

Left Bank

All the places I went to

Notre Dame Cathedral

After having breakfast our first stop of the day was the Notre Dame Catheral. We learned that in 1806 the Christ's Crown of Thornes was transferred there. The crown can be worshipped every first Friday of the month.

• Eiffel Tower
• The Louvre
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Arc de Triomphe
• Musee d'Orsay
• Sacre-Coeur
• Catacombs
• Ile de la Cite
• Left bank
• Cafe de Flore
• Les Deux Magots

Dinner

It was our last day traveling. We decided to spend the day at the Left Bank. The district is right on the River Seine so we did some boat tours. We also looked around in many shops there. We even took a food walking tour there. We had so much good food that we weren't hungry for dinner.

We ate at a nearby resurant and got snails. We all loved them! After dinner we all went back to our rooms to sleep.

Next morining

Flight Back

We all woke up early that morning to get to the airport. We grabbed some croissants and we were on our way.

We left at 10:00am and got back at 1:30pm. The flight was long and I spent most of the flight watching movies or scrolling through all the pictures I took.

Overall

Overall I had so much fun during this trip. I learned so many new things and got to visit some of the coolest places in the world, all with my friends!

Flight there

I left New York at 11:25pm and took a flight straight to C on Air France . The flight there and back was 1,125 dollars. I got to CDG at 6:55. It was the longest flight I've ever taken. I mostly slept through it.

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